Coca-Cola has brought us many iconic Christmas holiday advertisements, among them the classic polar bears. This year, the company changed up its traditional creation process using video footage of real people and objects, as well as stylized animation, and reimagined a beloved spot from the past with artificial intelligence. The all-AI-generated spots received a cool reception from some, turning into a not-so-silent night online.
What do we think? We treasure memories from our past, especially during the holidays. I, for one, love some of the traditionally animated Christmas classics like “A Charlie Brown Christmas” and “The Year Without a Santa Claus” (gotta love Snow Miser and Heat Miser). But then again, I also love some of the more modern classics, like Elf and the joyful Jingle Jangle, and the new Red One just might find itself on next year’s list of favorites. Who doesn’t love returning to Whoville for the original How the Grinch Stole Christmas? That special now has a number of remakes that employ different mediums, from CGI to live action. Are they better? Worse? Or, are they just different?
Look at all the attention the “newly” made-over Santas are getting this year, with the most popular being Kris from Target. He certainly doesn’t look like the jolly old fella from yesteryear—and no one is complaining.
Coca-Cola tried something different this year, with an AI-generated take on ads of Christmas past. Were they technically perfect? No. A little reality check, though—they were not meant to mimic reality. The 30-foot tree in the room regarding how AI is negatively affecting artists cannot and should not be overlooked. It is a serious issue, but singling out one instance and one company as being Grinchy for attempting something technically new and different is fair.
AI is already seeping into marketing campaigns, films, and a host of other projects. It’s best to address it as the ghost of Christmas future, rather than the ghost of Christmas present or past.
What’s old is even newer again
As we get older, we seem to crave things from our past—nostalgia at its finest. Even the younger generations enjoy blasts from the past by way of rediscovered fashion, music, and shows. At this time of year, oldies but goodies, like the stop-motion Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, Paul McCartney’s “Wonderful Christmastime,” the silver Christmas tree with color wheel… the list goes on. Coca-Cola has long brought us holiday cheer with a range of iconic commercials: young people on a hilltop singing in perfect harmony, bright red trucks decked out in holiday lights delivering a cargo of Coke, advertisements aglow with images of classic Santas—lots of Santas over the years, and, of course, numerous spots featuring the Coca-Cola polar bears. These represent just the tip of the iceberg.
This year, Coca-Cola is serving up a taste of some of these holiday classics, which have been reimagined for today’s audience. Reading between the lines, this means that AI was used to create a series of new spots, which pay homage to some classical Coke images from its ads of yesteryear.
The AI-generated campaign, dubbed “The Holiday Magic Is Coming,” takes its inspiration from the 1995 commercial “Holidays Are Coming,” featuring those red Coca-Cola trucks and a splash of other familiar imagery from Coke ads of the past. Three AI studios—Silverside AI (“Silver Santa”), Wild Card (“Unexpected Santa”), and Secret Level (“Secret Santa”)—created a version of the commercial, all of which have been released for television and online platforms. Collectively, different generative AI technologies were used, including Leonardo, Luma, Runway, and Kling, along with OpenAI’s newly released Sora and MiniMax.
While certain instances of AI, like ChatGPT, have been gaining widespread acceptance, Coca-Cola’s use of artificial intelligence for its holiday campaign was about as welcome as the Grinch’s initial visit to Whoville, resulting in some saying, “Bah, humbug” to the endeavor. Online comments have panned the effort, with some reportedly describing the ads as “soulless,” “lifeless,” and worse. There are some issues with the visuals, and some commenters in one string on X were quick to point out the flaws in various frames, just as others have done in posts on other platforms.
Additional folks have focused on the plight of artists fighting to hold onto their craft and jobs in this new era of AI and to get fair compensation for the use of their work in training AI models—concerns that were front and center during last year’s Hollywood writers and actors strikes. A comment on X by Alex Hirsch, creator of the Disney series Gravity Falls, drew widespread attention to Coca-Cola’s deafness in this regard, posting this: “FUN FACT: @CocaCola is ‘red’ because it’s made from the blood of out-of-work artists! #HolidayFactz.” Ouch.
Coca-Cola, on the other hand, has defended its decision to use AI this holiday season. “The Coca-Cola Company has celebrated a long history of capturing the magic of the holidays. We are always exploring new ways to connect with consumers and experiment with different approaches,” the company responded in a statement.
This is not the first time that Coca-Cola has created an ad campaign using AI technology. In early 2023, it used the tech in one of its first AI-generated commercials, called “Masterpiece,” in which museum paintings come to life while sharing a Coke. And yet, in that effort, there was little, if any, backlash. Then again, that commercial did not trample on holiday tradition.
Coca-Cola likely did not anticipate the negative reaction, especially with the positive response it got from its earlier attempt, not to mention the fact that AI continues to seep into our daily life (who isn’t wishing for Apple Intelligence in their iPhone this year?). Last year, Coca-Cola introduced AI to consumers by letting them send Christmas cards to someone near and dear to them. This year, they launched a talk-to-Santa experience driven by AI and, on the mobile front, the ability to create a personal snow globe. All with nary a peep.
Obviously, some see AI as the modern-day Ebenezer Scrooge, while others view it as a helpful (not to mention, cost-saving) invisible elf, there to make things faster and easier. Using AI for marketing and advertising enables ad teams to produce campaigns and spots more cost-effectively and faster. Using the tech, they can quickly and easily create region-specific versions and other customizations.
For those reasons and more, the public will have to get used to AI-generated commercials—from Coca-Cola and others. The company was upfront about its use of AI in its commercials, tagging them as such, and when it released “Masterpiece,” it used the campaign to help launch its Real Magic AI platform, powered by OpenAI. The platform is said to operate similarly to Dall-E and provides access to Coca-Cola’s creative archives.
Indeed, there was a lot of pessimism posted online about the campaign. However, a study by Truescope shows that despite the media attention that the naysayers received, not everyone felt the same way about the spots, as most registered mixed (7.9%) or neutral (83%) sentiments, while 7.4% indicated positive sentiments and just 1.0% were negative.
Just like AI, which is always learning, it seems that Coca-Cola and other brands must do so as well, and figure out how and when to use the technology for optimum results, while also understanding the concerns of artists and the reaction of viewers.
